Choosing the right fly is essential to angling success on rivers, creeks, and lakes. As your local waters enter spring fishing mode, fish will feed on the most readily available food source. Spring weather can change quickly and so can the feeding habits of fish. It is important to be armed with a variety of proven patterns to help you catch fish on waters near you.

In no order, here are five of the best flies for fishing for trout this spring near you.

Parachute Purple Haze. On many waters throughout the country, Blue Winged Olives may hatch on any given day. A regular Parachute Adams will work fine, but after seeing thousands of fish eat dry flies on various parachute patterns, the purple body makes a difference. The Parachute Purple Haze is a high-floating dry fly that is easy to see.  This fly will put a spell on you and a well presented fly can entice plenty of trout to eat.

LaFontaine’s Buzzball. The Buzzball is extremely effective on many waters where caddis and midge populations are prevalent. Gary LaFontaine, a fishing and fly-tying pioneer, developed this simple pattern. His original pattern was tied without a high-visibility wing, but many tiers now add a wing for added success in seeing the fly. When fishing the Buzzball, you can add a little fly floatant to the leader so the fly floats higher on the surface.

Pat’s Rubberlegs/Girdle Bug/Crazy Legs. The Pat’s Rubberlegs has several common names and it is a stonefly imitation at its core. The rubber legs flex and pulse in the current adding life to the fly, and the chenille color can vary to match any shade of stonefly. Black, brown, and variegated black-and-brown are also very effective colors. For the next six weeks it will be rare when a Pat’s Rubberlegs isn’t effective on many trout streams across the country.

Beadhead Zebra midge. This is a fly tied to imitate a midge pupa or emerging midge. Midges are prominent year-round in nearly every trout river, creek, or lake near you. However, the Zebra midge is not just for imitating midges. This can be fished a mayfly or caddis nymph alone or part of any two-fly rig. A very simple pattern but important for any fishing opportunities near you.

Tie: Sculpzilla and Sparkle Minnow. Because fishing streamers is effective and fun…a top flies list must have at least two big trout flies! The Sculpzilla was created by large trout guru Kelly Galloup. This fly imitates baitfish and larger food sources, such as crayfish and other fish. It can be fished with action or dead-drifted under an indicator. When choosing a color, a widely accepted rule is to choose alight-colored fly on a sunny day and a dark-colored fly on a cloudy day. Because this fly is articulated it is best fished single. The Sparkle Minnow is another very effective fly for catching big fish on waters near you. The beauty is how simple it fishes—there are no articulated hooks to get tangled and its conehead makes casting easy. The ice dubbing pulses when stripped or puffs when dead-drifted. If you have not yet discovered the Sparkle Minnow, well, that’s less fish you’ll discover too.

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